The house- Chapter 6

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Sarah drove to the cemetery and reached Rose-hill cemetery half an hour later.  She did not use her own car much, but today seemed like a special occasion.  Rich always joked about being laid to rest here. He always wanted to live in a castle and this was the closest he could get.  

She parked in front of the building and walked in to the mausoleum.  The people from the cemetery arrived about five minutes later.  They placed the urn with Rich's ashes inside a vault, and it took about twenty minutes for them to close it with a small marble slab.  

Ten minutes later everything was over.  She stood outside and looked up to the clouds and whispered:  

"Goodbye my dear friend..may you rest in peace."

Sarah drove straight home and then took a cab to the office.  There were never any parking space close to the office. There were a pile of messages on her desk at the office and she left those for later.  She checked her email to see if there were any replies from Rich's heirs, and to her surprise all four replied.   

Ursula and all three Rich's children would attend the reading exactly one week from today. Sarah still had to find a realtor to discuss putting the house in the market, and to have it appraised. There was a huge amount of work to do and the house hasn't been touched for nearly seventy years. 

Someone would have to re-do the house from top to bottom and she needed to find out from the heirs how much they were willing to spend on the renovations.  Perhaps they did not even want the house or sell it exactly like it was without spending anything on it. It would not have any value to any of them, but she still wanted to have it appraised before the reading so she could at least give them an idea of all the costs involved.  

Sarah phoned Matt Laricy from the top realtor company in Chicago and made and appointment with him to meet her at the house at three o clock.  

She went through the messages on her desk and made all the necessary phone calls.  Once done,  it was nearly time to go meet Matt at the house.  She packed her briefcase and left the office.  

Sarah stopped at Starbucks for a cup of coffee before catching a cab to the house. She was a bit early because she hates being late, and when she got out of the cab she saw that Matt had not yet arrived. She opened the gate and decided to sit on the porch and wait for Matt to show. 

She sat there for nearly twenty minutes lost in her own thoughts when she suddenly heard a voice behind her.  

"Sarah?"  She turned around and at the bottom of the stairs were the most handsome man that she has ever seen.

"Hi I'm Matt, you must be Sarah" Matt said.  

Sarah smiled at him.  "You startled me. Here I am, daydreaming...I did not even hear your car pull up."  

"Oh that's no bother.  I actually parked around the corner so you couldn't have heard me... I came around the back. I'm so excited to see this house!  I never thought I would get this opportunity.  I am glad you phoned me."   

Sarah took out the keys from her bag and tried to unlock the front door.  The key was stuck and Matt took the key from her.  

"Perhaps it just needs a male touch" Matt said smiling.  

Matt unlocked the door and then stepped away to let her enter. They walked into complete darkness and Sarah tried to find a light-switch to shed some light on the room.  When she flipped the third switch, the light flickered twice and then managed to stay on.

They both gasped at the beauty of the room around them. It was one of the biggest rooms that they had ever seen. On the one side was an enormous fireplace, and the windows were covered with long heavy drapes and when Sarah touched the curtain to open them, the one curtain shredded. The sun entered the room for the first time in many years. They walked from room to room and every room was more beautiful than the first one.  In total there were six bedrooms, each with a bathroom and the one room looked like a library although there were no books on the shelves.  

Sarah wondered if Rich was even aware of the beauty of this house...and if he really cared... There were so much she wanted to find out about this house...  and one thing was for certain....This house was going to cost a small fortune to bring back to life, but in the end it will be so worth it. 

 

- To be continued-